Fall from Eden
by Gray-Rain Skies
Summary: [challenge.fic] AU. This is fruit from the forbidden tree. [RikuNaminé]


For **k o u s e n**'s challenge; word: _fallen_

Well, this is radically different than what I write, let me just say. I think the writing style's generally the same, but...yeah. You'll see. Hope you like it, nonetheless.

**Disclaimer**: Nah.

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Lurking in the shadows and getting drenched by rain was her own kind of hell.

Slumping against the wall, she placed a trembling hand over her mouth, eyes closing as the thunder crashed above her and the liquid that _wasn't_ rain rolled down her cheeks. The shake in her limbs made it impossible for her to move for several seconds, and she found it hard to swallow the guilt in her throat or stomach the paranoia gripping her frame. This was hell, this was hell, oh God, what a terrible person she was, to be slumped over under the raining gray sky and bleeding her shame into the shadows.

Why was she doing this to him?

With a shake of her head, blonde bangs slapped into her vision and she was running as she held her sobs back through gritted teeth. She had to get far away from that perfect little apartment complex. She had to create as much distance as possible, because everything about it was mocking her, lashing scars into her. And as the rain drummed over the pavement and the thunder rumbled overhead, she just wished this was a nightmare, because she'd grown up believing in true love and had thought she'd found such a dream in his blonde hair and crystalline eyes.

But either love didn't exist, because she was spearing him through the heart with her present actions, or she was just some twisted character that didn't understand the meaning of loyalty whatsoever.

Gasping, she shook her head violently, the action making her trip over her sandaled feet and stumble through the falling rain, barely catching herself from becoming just a pathetic, white body facedown in the road. And if she fell now, if she lay fallen on the black tar of a rain-washed road, she didn't know if she'd be able to pick herself up again, because she was sinning at midnight and he didn't deserve her.

She ought to just give up.

But a force greater than she could go up against was driving her forward, and with her regained footing she was moving closer and closer to him, the boy she'd found by chance, the boy who'd made her into what she was now: a witch. She'd fallen from grace after being exposed to him for too long, and he'd destroyed her happiness with Roxas with just one kiss. It was all it took.

Bowing her head in shame, she lifted shaking fingers to her lips as she remembered standing quietly by a fish pond, calm expression on her face as she watched his reflection ripple in the water, and then remembered feeling his fingers under her chin and his lips simultaneously on hers. She should've pushed him away, because she'd been dating Roxas for a year at that time and she was in _love _with him, she should've said, but her heart was aching for him and talking louder than her head.

Even now, if she was given the chance to go back, she didn't know if she'd have the strength to push him away. Doing right was doing right while fantasizing, but in reality it was nothing but a burden. And all she really wanted was happiness.

She almost ran past his apartment, so troubled in her thoughts and lost in her feelings, but then she slowed and was looking up at the elegant complex, the area so much more extravagant than the corner of town where she lived. And thinking of home, thinking of him curled up in the sheets innocently, breath tickling the pillow as he tried to leave enough sheets for a person he assumed was lying beside him, she cringed and covered her eyes with her hands, sobbing as the rain splattered near her feet and pounded into her shoulders.

She didn't even know where her life would lead her after this; she was in hell already.

Shivering, she cast a forlorn gaze down the road and then walked towards the stairs, slowly dragging her body up to the third floor. The higher she climbed, the more she felt her wings crumble. She'd been compared to an angel many a time, but if only they could see her pitiful, fallen form now.

How all her friends would hate her.

Shoulders shaking, head bowed, she stopped before his door and knocked just loud enough for him to hear. He was awake at this hour; he was a night person, he'd told her. Back when they were innocent friends, having met maybe a month after she'd become girlfriend to Roxas, they'd confided in each other the smallest of things, never finding it awkward because it was only trivial, right? Nothing could come of it, right?

She sighed. Right. Telling her deepest secrets to a guy that was not her boyfriend and pouring her heart out through her softened words would _obviously _never lead to anything more.

Soft footsteps sounded, a lock chinked, and then the door was open, the hum of the television only coming in a whisper as the rain shattered against the rooftops and fell to the street below. Riku leaned against the doorframe, wearing only sweatpants as his bangs fell across his forehead and he arched his brow casually, and as she shivered before him the smallest of smirks slipped over his stunningly handsome features.

"He wasn't able to satisfy you, Naminé?"

She swallowed and looked away, shoulders falling as she tried to convince herself that he wasn't so attractive, that she didn't need to rely on him, that she loved Roxas above all else and she could return to him without seeking comfort in the blond's cousin's best friend. But her heart never did speak logic convincingly, and at the flash of lightning and following crash of thunder her head jerked unwillingly forward and he caught her gaze confidently, waiting for her answer.

She should go. She should really go. This was just a meaningless fling. She could sever ties at any time and go back to a guy who really, truly loved her. Who she really, truly…

"Hey," he said with a smirk, leaning forward and swiping her wet bangs away from her forehead. "Why'd you come? Need a goodnight kiss or something?"

…didn't love.

Stepping forward, she tilted her head upwards, and after a quick laugh he obliged, lips capturing hers and he arrogant in the fact that his rival's seemingly pure girlfriend was begging him for attention. And she didn't protest as he wrapped his arm around her waist, didn't protest as he pulled her slightly into his room, and didn't protest as he closed the door and then pushed her into it.

Rather, she slipped her fingers through his hair and kissed him back, because what was love but a meaningless child's tale and when was it ever enough? Here, in a darkened apartment, in a night sounding only of the hum of the television and the falling of rain, her empty heart was being somewhat filled by a lonely knight who was just as heartless. And as his kiss became more insistent, and his touch became more passionate, she was slipping from morals and diving from heaven, into a sin that was a dream in its own way.

Fantasies were for books, love was for movies, and sins were for here and now.

As time moved on their desires mingled in the darkness and their loneliness intertwined; they were two souls that were always being left behind and had finally found each other, and would _always _find each other, no matter how immoral it was. And since love didn't exist, in its own twisted way, this could last.

So she couldn't tell herself to stop him from teasing her as his lips tickled her ear. She couldn't stop herself from giggling into his chest as he lifted her into his arms and just stared down at her for a moment, back resting against the door momentarily but intentions firm and clear. And she couldn't stop herself from coaxing him on, lifting her hand to his face and pulling him into a kiss. This was reality; she couldn't stop it. She didn't want to.

After all, it wasn't head over heels and knights on white horses and roses extended in love.

It was a tangle of bed sheets and a secret on their lips as they shared a night with each other.

And paradise wasn't so pure and perfect anymore.

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I hate adultery. Despise it. I'm one of those hopeless romantics who hates songs about cheating and gets disgusted by stuff along those lines. But this is my own reality-check, I guess; plus, I thought the word kind of tied in with the issue. I dunno.

Anyway, please review.


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